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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26949343">Hoist the Colors</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/iiSolari/pseuds/iiSolari'>iiSolari</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean, Pirates</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 02:48:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>18,658</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26949343</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/iiSolari/pseuds/iiSolari</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Zari Martinez finds herself in a pinch at Port Royal, but some unexpected allies come to change her fate.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James Norrington/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><div class="">
<p></p><div class=""><p>The hay cracked beneath her feet as Zari pulled herself up onto the ledge inside of her cell. Her palms gripped the cold bars that blocked her freedom, feet balanced so she would not tip at the slightest shift of her weight. The discord outside had roused her curiosity, and considering that she was due for the gallows the following day, she found no harm in feeding what was left of her emotions.</p></div><div class=""><p>Her eyes peered between the bars, scanning over carefully along the formation of Port Royal. She could see the town, surrounded with beautiful foliage, streaking with red and white uniforms in cacophony. On the hunt for someone who had gotten away from them, she was sure. For those who were enlisted to protect and serve, she had them chasing her for quite some time. Here they were, again, given the same treatment by someone entirely different.</p></div><div class=""><p>A wolfish grin spread across her face, amused by the scene that had played out in front of her, before she slinked back down into the silence that had comfortably surrounded her for a moment’s time.</p></div></div><div class="">
  <p>She hummed, just a tad, as she sank down against cell door thoughtfully. Her mind seemed to wander as the noises from outside began to slowly drown out, as her mind began to trail away and collect anything noteworthy that she wanted to remember from before. Most of what creeped into her mind was pleasant, thankfully. Memories of the ocean, of her journey to get to where she had been.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She found herself shutting her eyes, for just a moment, the brim of her hat tipped over just enough over her eyes to where any light that was in her cell was obstructed.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p> </p>
  <p>
    <em>There was a storm.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>The rain pattering against the boards of the deck. The thunder and lighting clapping against the waters around them, but just a whiff away from striking the ship. Zari should have been thankful, any sort of attention from the weather could have rendered them in danger- but nothing more than the danger that was already present.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>The raging waters that crashed against the hull seemed endless in front of her. The spinning of the wheel only took seconds to come into the alignment that she had wanted, but it felt as if it had taken years. She was shouting, commanding her crewmates to do what they needed in order to ensure their survival.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>The Devil’s Scorn would not sink. Not to the likes of The Queen Anne’s Revenge. Not while she was on the helm.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>She turned her head over her shoulders, to check how close that the opposition had gotten to her. As much as she tried to put the wild winds in her sails, she could not succeed. The Queen Anne’s Revenge was only drawing closer.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>Blackbeard had the power of the winds at his disposal, guiding them so they favored his masts, so that they favored his ability to draw ever-so near to Zari and her crew.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>Zari could feel her heart drumming loudly in her chest, almost in tandem with the rain droplets that seemed to only amplify when they landed. The repetitive pattering noise was all that she could focus on for the moment, as the rest of her crew scrambled to bring forward the guns.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>She could hear the canons slam against the hull of the ship, as the people below began to open fire.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>They loaded the canons, one by one, waiting for Zari to give her signal to fire. Seconds felt like days, as the ones who manned the canons watched closely. Listening.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>Zari’s breathing began to swell, the sound almost becoming overwhelming in her ears. She began to find it hard to focus through the obstruction the storm had been causing, and she could only hope that she had kept her distance.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>Her attention raised, at the sound of something shuffling. She paused, her hands never leaving the helm as her eyes flitted around her surroundings for anything that could be deemed as a threat or unnatural. Immediately, there was nothing that she could spot, as she demanded her men to hold steady and prepare to fight.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>Until she heard one of them begin to scream.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>Oh, how the screams began to ring through her ears. They rippled through her body, sending chills down her spine. It all began to happen so fast, the rigging constricting around them. She saw some strung up by their ankle, some by their abdomen. Some had been blessed with a much more abrupt end.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>Her breathing began to falter, watching as the men who had volunteered to put their lives on the line begin to be strung up.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>She could see the red and black sails in her peripheral now, her heart beginning to thud louder in her chest as she let go of her wheel. She knew what was going to happen.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>That’s when the canon fire began, but not from the ones her crew had set. They came from the Queen Anne’s Revenge, and the sound of wood snapping and crackling on impact seemed like a clap in the sky until the thunder sounded. It was almost a reminder to come back into reality, to try to get her crew out of the situation that they found themselves in.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>She drew her sword quickly, the sound of the metal scraping ringing in her ears. She started to move toward the stairs to get on deck, to try to climb up and rescue whom she could.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>However, she felt something constrict around her leg. Tightening, like a boa in the wild. The rope that had found itself around her leg jerked her to the ground, but her grip on the hilt of her blade remained. She gasped when she began to get pulled away, her hat sliding off when the rope jerked her up by her ankle. She swiveled in the air, watching as fragments of her ship began its descent into the waters.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>She tried to curl herself up, attempting to take a swipe at the rope around her leg with an unfortunate miss. She grunts as her body weight jerks her straight, the rope swinging her back and forth as the ship began it’s descent. She curled up one more time, hand gripping the hilt tightly as she swipes once more.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>Success, as the momentum of her swinging sends her barreling into the water.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>Everything became muffled after that, as the water enveloped her and shrouded her in darkness, just so it could light up once more in a rapid flame and a loud explosion.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p> </p>
  <p>She starts awake.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Sweat clings to her brow, her heart matching the pace it had been at before she had snapped into consciousness again. She attempts to soothe herself, a hand clasping over her chest as she evens out her breathing pattern. Her eyes began to focus on her surroundings, trying to place exactly the time of night that she had found herself in.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>It was dark out this time, rather than the daylight she had seen before she had drifted off into an unexpected slumber. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>There was one more in her company, a man who had himself propped in a similar position as her. His hat was tipped down just a bit to obscure his face from the other population inside of the cells, silent.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Zari knew he hadn’t been here earlier. He must have been the man that the Navy had chased down earlier on, the reason for all of the shouting in the afternoon.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She begins to turn, to begin to strike up a curious conversation with him to fish information. To figure out who he is, because something about him seemed all-too familiar. Maybe she had passed him when her crew was alive and well, before she had lost everything that she had worked so hard to gain.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>But before she could even begin to speak, she heard a familiar rumble in the distance. The very sound that haunted her to this day began to vibrate through the fort walls, causing her to raise her head quickly.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Canon fire.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She darts up, now not paying any mind to the new body that the Royal Navy had thrown into her neighboring cell. She returns to the spot she had gotten to earlier, standing on the edge to peer through the iron bars once more. She could see a black ship surrounded by a fog, the canons lighting up with each rumble in the atmosphere.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>There was one more flash that came from the ship, another two canons firing off. She tried not to wince at the thundering noises, however her eyes widened when she realized something as quick as the canon had fired off.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>There was a ball flying right for her side of the fort. She dives down onto the floor, earning a groan of disapproval as she lands closer to the cell door that she had darted up from prior. Within seconds, there was a loud crack as the brick of the fort wall burst open from the impact. She had a way out, now, a way to delay her appointment to the gallows.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>And it doesn’t take much thought to take it. She sprints out of the hole in the wall, before anyone in the fort could address her. She jumps down the sort drop, landing quietly on her feet before making a quick heading for the town. She could see smoke rising up, the company that had come deciding on raiding the port town.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She dips herself down so she’s lower to the ground. She could hear the screaming of the many civilians who found themselves without defense, without a way to fight their way to safety. Zari had no weapon herself, however she knew exactly where to go in order to find one.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The Blacksmith. She remembered seeing the shop when she ran through the day before, losing the Royal Navy in the process for just a quick moment before a civilian had screamed and shouted.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She swerves once a disheveled pirate tailing a properly-clad gentleman ran by, staying crouched so she could blend into the overturned carts and destroyed shops. Slipping by the masses of people that collected in the town in a panic.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She elected to ignore the panic, seeing the door to the blacksmith shop in her sights. She scurries by quickly, pushing open the wooden door in a rush, but not enough to disturb anything that had been inside. She could feel a bit of the crushing weight lift off of her shoulders, straightening out as she finds the swords to her right. She pulls one that had been hanging on one of the pillars, and just as fast as she had come in, she had gone.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She had hoped no one would see her when she exited the premises, sword clutched in her hand cautiously as she shut the door. Attempting to make it look the same as it had been before, but only to be disturbed by loud cackling that only drew closer. She spun around, eyes now beginning to grow serious now that she had a weapon in her hands. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Running toward her was one of the pirates that would come to pillage the shop, but now only could only feel bloodlust once she was in their sights. She braces herself for a fight, unsure of how violent that this would get.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The pirate gets close enough to bring up their axe, and she returns it by bringing up her sword to catch the swing. She slides closer, attempting to make a grab for the pirate’s arm so she could twist the axe out of it’s hands. She, however, takes a quick elbow to the chin, but returns one to the stomach of her opposition.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She makes a swipe with her sword, deflected by the axe that he held in his dirtied hands. The corners of her lips curl up into a sinister grin, and she spins the sword once by the hilt, before attempting to make another brutal swipe.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>A miss and a deflect, and the back of his hand met with the side of her face. She spun at the impact, but was quickly back in her own mind. Her lips curled up into a bit of a snarl, and she decides to quicken the pace. There was one swipe down, which was deflected, but she followed it up with another. The brute failed to keep up, earning a long scratch down his torso. He staggered back, just a bit, and just before he could raise his arm to swing, the sword was driven into his chest quickly.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He fell backwards, and with ease she pulled out the red-stained blade before moving forward.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She wanted to find somewhere to seek refuge, but only for the time being. She needed to commandeer a ship, but she needed to wait until this chaos settled. Until the Royal Navy would need to inevitably begin to sweep the city for bodies, for the roads were littered with soldiers and civilians whom weren’t shown any mercy.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>So she proceeds, but quickly as she notices some of the pirates beginning to retreat back to the ship with a woman hostage in tow. She recognized the girl, as the governor’s daughter whom she had crossed paths with on her sprint through Port Royal.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>So she ducks behind boxes, which were left by a destroyed shop that the pirates had looted. Zari inhales and exhales slowly, trying to calm her nerves as she heard the cackling and patter of feet sprinting by her. All not bothering to check for the woman safely tucked away, for the time being.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Once the maniacal noises had ceased, she manages to peer over to check the environment around her. Nothing. All of the pirates had returned to their rowboats, and were rowing back to the black ship that sat comfortably in front of the port.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Zari takes the time to sheath her weapon, and takes a step to leave the post that she had elected for herself. Her boot connected with the ground in front of her, the glass from the shop crunching underneath her weight. She pauses at the sudden noise, to ensure that she doesn’t get heard by any passerby, and when she thinks it’s clear she takes another step.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“By Order of the Royal Navy, stop where you are!”</p>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="">
  <p>It was almost impulsive, the mocking grin Zari had on her face.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Here she was, once more, at the end of the muskets that the Royal Navy donned. Once more, she would end up needing to outrun the lot of them through the port city, just after they had endured the attack.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>No. Now would not be the time. There was nowhere safe to run, as most of the buildings were destroyed. Terrain would remain unsafe for her, and she could very much injure herself trying to get away in a similar fashion she did just the day before. So she drops the sword she had in her hands, turning slightly so she was facing those who had managed to find her once more.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>In the middle of the line of red was one officer in blue, hands folded properly behind his back as he scanned over her with his hazel eyes. After a moment of silence, he gives her an annoyed smile. Her managing to escape through the catastrophe seemed to vex him, and if he hadn’t gotten there sooner she would have been in the wind once again.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Zari Martinez,” he begins, “I see you’ve attempted to improve your fortunes.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“When the wall caves in right next to you, it would be criminal not to try,” she says with a chuckle, checking her sullied nails with the same mocking grin on her face. “I assume you are here to arrest me again, Commodore Norrington.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The Commodore nods to one of his men to proceed with the arrest, in which she does not fight. Her arms are jerked so they could clap a set of shackles on her wrists. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She chuckles. “You won’t entertain me with an answer?” she asks, her eyes staring him down. “Will you even tell me what is to become of my hanging?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The Commodore seemed to disapprove of the question she spewed, arms folded behind his back properly once she was adequately subdued once more. “You will sit in your cell until the gallows are adequate once more. You will sit in your cell, and contemplate all possible meanings of ‘silent as the grave’. Do I make myself clear?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Zari grins at him, clearly not intimidated by his open-ended threats about her mortality. “Unmistakably clear, Commodore Norrington.” </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He doesn’t return any expression back to her, contempt when turning on the heels of his shoes and beginning to lead the march back to the fort. Back to a cell that hadn’t been destroyed by the canons of the Black Pearl. His men didn’t even have to put their hands on her to escort, she went back without a fuss.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The only reason that she would attempt to escape is if she felt the sense of dread that matched what she felt when her crew had died. When her ship had met its untimely demise. However, something told her that this would have a different ending. It wouldn’t end with her, hanging after a short drop. It would end something much more fortuitous than that, and it was a matter of patience to understand when that would play out.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>They move her down the stairs, her eyes front and center. Staring at the back of the Commodore’s decorated jacket as she felt the familiarity of the dim setting around her. She inhaled sharply, taking a quick glance at the stranger that had been thrown in beside her since he was now leaning against the cage of the cell.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Only to realize that it was not a stranger, but Jack Sparrow himself. They had made themselves quite friendly when he had gone to Tortuga, but not in the way he had made himself friendly with most of the women. No, she had more respect for herself than that.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>They did, however, share stories about their times over the seas over a few pints of rum. How they both ended up on the rock that was Tortuga. Both of their tales, however, were not ones of better endings.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He connected eyes with her as she passed, the familiarity washing over his face before she disappeared a few cells down. Away from him on the far side of the dungeons.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She walks into the cell slowly, the shackles on her wrist being unlocked before the Naval officers backed up out of her cell with caution. They knew who she was, what she was capable of. It was only a matter of when she decided to lash out.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Only issue is, she would never have to. She knew that this would end up turning in her favor, without having to pull any strings.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Norrington holds eyes with her for just a moment, before turning to the rest of his officers. “Men, give us a moment.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>His officers seem confused by the sudden request, before they back up and up the staircase of the hold. Zari listened to their footsteps ascend slowly, before the door of the keep had shut.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Norrington turned to Zari, hazel eyes holding evenly to hers. “I hear you are a witch, Zari Martinez.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Zari pulls the corners of her lips into a smile, tattooed fingers twirling around as she watched his body language. He hated being here. Having to speak to her on a matter that he would rather have solved himself. However, he was looking for someone, and wanted to locate them quickly. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>But quickly does not happen for someone who is lost to open waters, to the hands of a damned crew and headed for the direction of an island that people only heard of through stories.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Stories that only existed to those who knew of the island. Of Barbossa and his crew of hell-bound soldiers.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“You’ve read my misdeeds, Commodore Norrington. I’m a wanted woman to the Crown,” she says, not bothering to entertain him with an actual answer.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He knew what it was.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He clenches his jaw, his eyes finally breaking from hers. “Then I will remain quick. You are going to help me find someone. They were-”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Kidnapped, yes? I am aware of the kidnapping of the governor’s daughter,” she chuckled a bit to herself and turned on her heels to look at the window. The moon was still hanging high in the sky, illuminating the cell she inhabited.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Then you must know I need to act quickly,” he says.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Zari turned back to him, quickly, and turned her head to the side. “Then what makes you so sure that I will accept help from the likes of the Royal Navy, to those I have sinned against on many occasion?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Because then I will be in your debt, witch,” he shot back, a bit of venom in his voice. Sprouted by the idea that he would have to owe a person such as Zari. Being a pirate was enough to justify her hanging, but being a witch was another monster of itself.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He felt that she knew no discipline, manipulated the world around her to get what she wanted. While that were true, he also wondered why she was showing restraint now. Why she wasn’t casting some form of spell on him, or doing something that would throw him and his men off balance. Off her scent.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He didn’t know that Zari knew the outcome of this. That she had a plan to get herself free, and that the events that were to transpire have already been seen by her.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Aye,” she grins, enjoying the way he looked repulsed having to admit that he would be indebted to her. She parts her lips and inhales once more, fixing her stance so that she looked as if she were pondering her choices.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Although, she knew the one that she should take. The one that would delay her execution for quite some time. “Fine, Commodore. I will assist you in finding your woman. I assume I making my home in the brig?” She inquired, with the same smug smile on her face.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I will retrieve you at dawn,” was his only answer, before turning once again and disappearing down the hall and moving up the steps.</p>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="">
  <p></p>
  <div class="">
    <p>Dawn seemed to have taken years to come around. The chill of the brick cell walls were the sole thing Zari could pay any sort of attention to during her short time inside. Just far enough away from any of the other prison tenants to make it seem like she was painstakingly alone.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="">
    <p>It was dreary, when she heard the fort doors open up to the cells below. She heard rhythmic steps, stomping down the stone stairs until they ended up level with the floor she sat on. She was supporting her weight on her palms, her legs crossed over one another in front of her. After a couple of seconds of listening in on the rhythmic stepping drawing closer, she finally looks up from under the brim of her feathered hat.</p>
  </div>
</div><div class="">
  <p>In front of her cell stood Commodore Norrington with two naval officers at each flank. Their muskets aimed upward, tucked at their sides in a mirrored fashion. Their faces serious, eyes forward until Norrington gave his command.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Unlock her cell, clap her in irons,” were all he instructed, before moving away so the lackeys in red could step forward. Dropping their muskets so they could break proper formation, one of them whistles to the dog that Zari knew inhabited the jail.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The dog trotted up happily, his tail wagging just ever-so slightly at the beckoning by the officer. The officer grabbed the keys, straightening up quickly to unlock the gate before handing the dog the keys once more. Just as quickly as it arrived, the pattering of it’s paws disappeared into the distance.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Zari stood once the door was opened, holding out her wrists once she heard the clanking of the shackles that she would sport on her wrists. Her eyes are forward once more, connecting with the Commodore’s confidently as he observed from the outside of the iron bars. The cold metal clacked around her wrists, sending a cold chill through her spine at the sudden shift in temperature.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Once they were locked in place, she begins to step toward the Commodore without breaking his stare. He turns, once she is close, to lead the three of them out of the fort and up the stairs. She remains centered behind him, while the two officers that had come with him had now positioned at her flanks.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>As if she would try to escape. There would be no reason for it. Once this deed was done, she was a free woman for a short period after that and that was as far as she wanted to see.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She grins subtly as they begin to ascend up the same stone steps, seeing the light at the end of the corridor. She hummed, just a bit, as she followed two paces behind the Commodore without a word.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She opened her mouth to speak, thinking for a moment before her throat allows the noise. “Where are we to go, Commodore Norrington?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“You are to remain silent,” he replied immediately, his posture never breaking as they begin to descend to the waterfront.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Zari caught a glimpse of the red jackets streaking across the docks, all loading supplies onto a blue and yellow painted ship with rolled white sails. Along the back of the ship, which she could see from their spot on the port walls, spelled ‘Interceptor’. She saw this ship, when she took a peek into her future when she sat in her cell. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>However, not in the hands of the Navy. That detail, however, she would not disclose to him.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>So she chuckles just a tad, and only that, as she continues on her way to the Interceptor at the guidance of her Royal Navy escorts. “Of course, Commodore Norrington.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Her snide response causes him to break composure, but only slightly, turning his head over his shoulder to glance at her once more before returning forward.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She took a slight enjoyment in keeping the Commodore on his toes, causing him to act with such caution and rue towards her. Something about having him stew in such a fashion added a bit of humor to her day.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She takes the time to glance around once they were finally out of the fort, seeing that they were now walking the edge of the waters to the port. It was only a few seconds that their rhythmic stepping began to slow, and eventually cease, the Commodore greeted by a couple of officers waiting for his cue.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Zari’s focus seemed to waver on the slowing sounds of her heartbeat. The crash of the waves against the sides of the Interceptor, the gulls circling around the bustling docks. It was only the waiting game now, until the Commodore decided to load her into the brig. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>In her daze, she could only reflect on her past once again.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>It was brief this time. Only the sounds of the harsh winds and the screams of her crewmates. The sounds of the rigging turning against the ones who it was commanded by.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>It seemed to drag on forever, the memories of those she had lost. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Until she had opened her eyes. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>It was bright outside. She hadn’t realized how long she had spent in her own head, reminiscing about those who had unfortunately passed on. The supplies that the Commodore was standing by for had been loaded onto the ship, and now it was her turn.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>So when he turns to her, she puts on her best smile once more as the soldiers returned to her flank to get her onto the Interceptor without her slipping away.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>However, she could hear something in the distance, shouting. Rowing.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>It causes her to turn her head quickly, as another Leftenant attempted to call out to the Commodore.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Commodore Norrington, I think someone is shouting for you in the waters,” Zari says calmly, watching as his head whips around toward longboat bobbing in the waves.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“They’ve taken the Dauntless!” the officer shouts, pointing behind himself at the much larger ship that had begun to drop its sails. “Turner and Sparrow! They’re taking the Dauntless!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She glances at the Commodore to observe his reaction, watching as he pulls out a spyglass and aims it at the rowboat drifting in the waters. He, then, directs it to the Dauntless, his serious expression unchanging.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Rash, Turner. Too rash,” she could hear him comment under his breath, as he snapped the spyglass closed. “That is without a doubt the worst pirate I’ve ever seen.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“So much that he has managed to commandeer a ship with just two men?” Zari says calmly, the same cocky smirk playing at the edge of her lips. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I don’t need any sort of commentary from the likes of a witch,” the Commodore snipped back quickly, before turning to board the Interceptor himself.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Red-coated officers return to Zari’s flanks, guiding her onto the ship as if she were something fragile. They knew the Commodore needed her for something, therefore treaded much more lightly around her. Norrington was not one to ask someone of her nature to do something, and that alone worried them. Maybe even scared them.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>No. They were. They knew who Zari was, her long list of sins against the Crown and it’s officers. Zari could feel their fear rippling through their spines, beginning at their chests.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>So she stood on deck while the rest of the officers piled on, and the ones who escorted her stared at Norrington for some form of command.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Leave her here. We will use her to track down Sparrow and Turner, when we get closer,” the Commodore explains, earning an abrupt nod from the two officers.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Quickly, the sails are dropped. The men around her are shouting familiar commands to ensure that the Interceptor had the wind in her sails, to ensure that they had every possible option to catch up to the Dauntless.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>And now they were on open waters. The smell of the sea running its course through Zari’s nostrils, bringing any tension in her shoulders to a halt. Something about the ocean always seem to calm her nerves. Give her ease, despite her violent history with those who had occupied it.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>It’s only mere minutes before the Interceptor is alongside the Dauntless, the sailors sending up their grapples so they could scale up the side of the ship. There is a plank that stretches from one railing to the other, where the Commodore and Zari are meant to go.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The Commodore goes first, to lead the charge. He, then, gestures the officers behind Zari to send her up. However, they keep a sharp eye on her as to ensure that she does not jump ship.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She doesn’t, walking across the board with ease and stepping gracefully onto the deck of the Dauntless.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Search every cabin, every hold down to the bilges,” the Commodore instructs the rest of his soldiers, before turning to Zari and eyeing her evenly. “Where are Turner and Sparrow?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Zari gives another lopsided grin, knowing exactly what the two had planned for the Dauntless. However, she does not feed that information to Norrington. “If I had known that I would be looking into the events that transpired on this ship, I would have informed you before we arrived.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The Commodore’s eyes are stricken with annoyance, before he turns quickly to proceed the search. He just about enters the Captain’s quarters, before the ship could hear the clattering of the planks against the hull of the ship before they splashed into the waters below.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Just as fast as they had boarded the Dauntless, they turn slowly to be greeted with the sight of the Interceptor sailing away.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Sailors, back to the Interceptor! Now!” the Commodore barks, before hurrying around to the front of the Dauntless. A few of the sailors rush to the railings, while one tries to swing over to retreating ship. He fails, however, letting go just to scream and dive into the clear ocean.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The Commodore hangs his head in disappointment, ashamed that he had allowed himself to be fooled like this by only two men. He raises his head after a few grueling seconds, spinning his attention to Zari, who wore her same trademarked smirk.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Take the witch to the brig,” he commands his officers. “Set topsails and clean up this mess.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I assume I should be expecting you some time in the future for a heading on your beloved?” Zari questions, eyes scanning over the Commodore and his exceedingly annoyed body language.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He only glares, surprised by the fact that she decided to speak without being prompted, but does not focus on saying anything in regards. He just gestures to his officers to do the request with haste, earning a couple hands at her back and biceps.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She just chuckles as they push her by, audible enough so the Commodore could hear her amusement. When they cleared past him, she began her descent into another familiar set of iron bars.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Another day in a chilled cell.</p>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><div class="">
<p></p><div class=""><p>Zari could only pass time by doing her spell work to track down the Commodore’s fiancée.</p></div><div class=""><p>There were no windows, no naval officers for her to try to intimidate. No way for her to use her silver tongue. All she could do was wait until someone decided to come let her out, or interact with her to try to pick her brain.</p></div><div class=""><p>She hums slightly as she relaxes in her seat once more, her spell work finished for the night. Her visions allowed her to locate the woman, her whereabouts something the Commodore would be extremely disapproving of. She was seen on the deck of a ship with black sails, a ominous fog blanketing the vessel.</p></div><div class=""><p>She knew exactly what kind of company the famed governor's daughter would find herself in. She knew what company she would continue to keep, and who she would ultimately choose to go to in the end.</p></div></div><div class="">
  <p>None of which remained with the Commodore.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She debated in her head whether she would provide him with some form of grim news. As much as she enjoyed keeping him cautious, she could tell that he would be a man to remain devoted to those he felt love for. So for it to not be returned, it would break his heart.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She sighs.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Zari may have been a chaotic force, but she was not one to be completely heartless to those who did not deserve it.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Yes, the Commodore was keeping her locked here, but only because of those who instructed him to do so. He requested her help, a wanted woman with many crimes to billow behind her, so he may find someone he cared so deeply for. It was only right to inform him that the said person will end up running off. Accepting his engagement, just to not see it forward.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Her thoughts are ripped from her mind when she hears a set of footsteps descending toward her hold. She looked up quickly, as they drew closer in a rhythmic fashion, to be greeted with the familiar set of disappointed hazel eyes.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>However, he held something in his hands. Rations, to keep her steady on the rest of the voyage.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She grins once more. "Keeping me alive for your bidding, Commodore Norrington?"</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>"You are to be assisting me. I do not see fit for you to die in the midst of doing just that," he says, slipping the rations through the bars close to close to the floor.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She eyes it as it scraped closer to her, connecting her gaze with his once more. "I'm not an animal, Commodore, I don't bite the hand that feeds.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“You’re a witch and a pirate locked in the brig of a vessel enlisted by the crown. I do not know what you are capable of,” he answers simply, before straightening out and folding his arms behind his back.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Very bleak outlook for someone who seeks my help,” Zari chided before pulling the rations closer to her person. “You’re here for something, I can feel it.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“What is the heading to Elizabeth?” he asks quickly, now that his intents were in the open.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She beams at him and chuckles. "I knew it would be for her. You will find your woman on an island, a spit of land in the middle of the sea."</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>"Is it charted?" he inquired.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>"No. However, she will make her presence known to you," she says. "You will notice a sign by staying on this course. It is your duty to know what it is."</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He purses his lips at the vague answer. Just enough to know where to go, not enough to know what to expect.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She felt a twinge inside of her chest. Her better nature was beginning to signal her to tell him what is to become of his future, the fate the sands of time wove for him. It would not be kind, however it was not her duty to inform him of such choices.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>But she opens her mouth. "Should you continue on this path of love, Commodore Norrington, you will notice the path begin to darken. You will find yourself at an obstacle, one of which you learn you cannot win."</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>His face twists into one of curiosity. "Is this about Elizabeth?"</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She only nods her head, her eyes serious--a contrast to her behavior just moments before. "Rescuing her will bring about your dreams, yes, but only for you to realize they may not be the life you seek."</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>"How are you to know the kind of life I set to pursue?" he shot back, his stance never breaking. However, his hazel eyes hardened at her warnings. Elizabeth meant everything to Norrington now, and Zari could only sit back and watch as the twists begin to unfold.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She gave her warning. She tried to stop him from making the decision that would cost him the life that he has come to live. The life that he would claw his way to keep.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>"You will not like the answer to said inquiry, Commodore," was her only response, bringing the ration to her lips so she may finally partake.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>"I do not need a pirate witch to tell me the path that I wish to choose," he says simply. "The plans that I have for my future are mine alone. And if there are costs to be made, I am prepared for them."</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Zari had taken a bite of the food he had presented to her, eyes remaining down. "Then know that I have give ample warning, Commodore. I have tried to save you from the choice that you will make in a few days time."</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>"Consider your words marked," was his only stern response, turning quickly and immediately moving for the stairs.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Zari, then, listened to the sounds of the Commodore stamping up the wooden stairs to return to the front lines that he had adjusted to.</p>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="">
  <p></p>
  <div class="">
    <p>Zari could feel the time shift as they continued to sail on open waters. Two days.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="">
    <p>It had been two days since Norrington had asked for their heading.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="">
    <p>She was fed on a schedule set by the Commodore, the rations he had given her surprisingly generous for being someone who he had a rooted hatred for. He knew her death would cost them their expedition, therefore he needed to keep her healthy. However, he wasn’t cruel enough to have her mortality ride so close to the threshold.</p>
  </div>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She had her legs tucked in once more against her chest, her arms enclosed around them so she could feel as if she was sitting inside of herself. The only familiar place that she knew, aside from the sea.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Yet through these tattered panels, she couldn't feel the ubiquitous seas. She could only listen to the crashing noises that she could not obtain.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She lifted her head once more from her knees, however, when she heard a singular set of footsteps coming down to the hold that had become her temporary home.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>It was the Commodore, his arms folded behind his back once more. Only a couple seconds later did a set of red-clad men come to take their place at his flanks.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>"Gentleman, clap her in irons and bring her to the top deck," he says calmly and connects eyes with her once more. "She has one more task to complete before I send her back here to rot."</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>"If I were to rot, you would have stopped feeding me as much rations quite some time ago, Commodore. No need to embellish," she said and stands when the officers marched forward and unlocked her gate quickly.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She holds her arms out calmly, the shackled clapped onto her wrists with shaky hands. These officers were afraid of her.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Surely, there was some news of what she was doing for them, and just as much fear to follow that she would lash out. Fight back, due to her being held in the brig for quite some time.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She never did. There was no point to start murdering these men, who only knew how to do what their enlistment prompted them to do. She would reach her out, she had seen it when searching in the Commodore's future.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Their fingers fumble with the metal of the shackles, and she listens closely as they click around her wrists with ease. When locked in place, the men fall back to her flanks and stand straight to await their next command.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Come along,” is his only instruction needed to get them to start stepping in a rhythmic manner. She begins to follow, eyes forward and searing into the back of the Commodore’s decorated jacket.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She decides to take another jab at the Commodore’s nerves, to try to get something out of him before she was inevitably put away once more. “Due to your seemingly rushed manner of getting me out of the brig, I am going to assume you need my confirmations?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He doesn’t entertain with an answer, just a slight glare over his right shoulder meant for her. After a few seconds so she would understand his intents, he turned forward and began his ascent up the two flights of steps that would lead them to the outside world.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Aw, are you not going to give me the confirmation I so desire?” she questions, following behind him closely.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I do not feel the need to humor you with some variation of answer, witch,” he says calmly as they are almost to the top of the staircase. Only a few more seconds, before she could feel the sea breeze across her face.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Oh, on the contrary, Commodore,” she hums as she watches the clear skies draw closer and closer. “You humor me by showing reluctance.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>They breach into the sunlight, signified by the sudden warm against her skin and the breeze stroking her cheeks. The Commodore stopped suddenly, turning sharply so he was facing Zari directly and a smile stretches across her face. Finally, something different from his usual behaviors.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>His voice is low when he steps forward, eyeing her with a collected expression.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“What is it, Commodore? Do you finally tire of the company you employ?” she asked, her voice dropping to match his expression. Low enough in octave so only him and her escorts could hear her challenging.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Do remember that you are only here out of the premise of having an immediate purpose, Zari Martinez. Once you serve said purpose, you will be returned promptly to the brig and silence will be your only friend,” he replied to her, eyes cold under the calm.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Her grin becomes wolfish, cocky under the circumstances. She got a bit of a thrill riding on the edge of mortality, dancing along with this person of authority. Pissing off someone who could very much order her execution, but only draws their own hand back. He needed her here, and she took advantage of it.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Please, Commodore. You will need me again,” she chides and chuckles. “You may not know what for, but there will be another purpose for me. You will not get the satisfaction of silencing me.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>His expression peels away at her retort, gazing out at the sea. It was only then when Zari decided to turn her head, noticing the black smoke contrasting against the bright blue skies. The island ahead of them had been burning for some time, the signal large enough to be seen from miles away.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Is that where our heading pushes us?” he inquired finally, the animosity never bubbling down from inside of him but having enough self-discipline to not take it out on her.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Yes,” she responds. “The company you seek awaits you on the shore.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>That seems to be the only answer he needs, immediately turning to his sailors. “Men, get yourselves into the boats! You two,” he turns to the men at Zari’s flanks, “keep the witch at the top deck, but keep a watchful eye. Any sign of deceit, shoot her.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Zari laughed in response, and watched as the Royal Navy began to clamor into the longboat that they had prepared on the side of the ship. The Commodore remained on deck, but moved to the railing so he could keep a watchful eye on the one he travelled so far for.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He was joined by an older gentleman in a bigger wig, the Governor of Port Royal who had joined them on the voyage. He remained in the quarters most of the time, preferring not to be in the sightlines of the pirate witch that was below decks.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>It didn’t take long, for Zari to notice the woman clad in white climb into the longboat with someone in tow. A man, with a familiar red bandana and dreadlocks.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Jack Sparrow. They crossed paths once more.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The Naval officers begin to row back to the Dauntless, and Zari could feel the anticipation climbing up in the Commodore. While he kept it under the disguise of a serious expression, the compassion he felt for her was strong enough for Zari to pick up.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>It was a shame, he did not believe her about the stranger’s heart. The woman’s feelings, that would go against the Commodore’s so far into the distant future.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She could hear them drawing closer and closer, eventually the rowing coming to an abrupt end. They began to climb up the side of the hull, a few sets of Naval bodies coming over the side of the ship before the woman was able to step over.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She straightens once she has both of her feet on the ground, looking up from moving herself steady. She almost has tears in her eyes once she lays them on her father, rushing forward and giving the Governor a strong hug.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>A couple seconds are to pass in silence, as the familiar ties are finally bound once more. She pulls back, though, a realization dawning on her face. Her love, her real love, was somewhere unkind. Somewhere that Zari’s abilities could now allow her to see.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Father, we have to save Will,” she immediately speaks.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“No! We will return to Port Royal at once,” the Governor argues in return. “Not go galivanting after pirates.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Then we condemn him,” she shoots back.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“His fate is regrettable, but so is his decision to engage in piracy.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“To rescue me! To prevent anything from happening to me!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Zari could get a glimpse of Jack Sparrow peering around a red-coated officer, trying to interject some form of silver-tongued attempt at getting the Commodore to go after the Pearl. Whatever he may have said, the Commodore would not be steered.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>So she opens her mouth. “You may not be able to get another chance at the Black Pearl, Commodore. To vanquish the threat that almost rid you of your woman, yes? They make haste for Isla de Muerta as we speak.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The Commodore turns to her, with the same cold stare as he held before. “I do not serve myself, Zari Martinez. I remind you that I enlisted in His Majesty’s Royal Navy on the premise of serving others.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He turns confidently, beginning to head up the set of stairs that led to the helm. He was about to join his Leftenant, and Elizabeth jerked forward to chase after him suddenly.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Please, do this for me,” she says, pausing for a moment before she follows up. “As a wedding gift.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>There it was. The set of words that Zari had heard in Elizabeth’s future when attempting to locate her. Everything about the Black Pearl and it’s cursed pirate crew had remained almost like a haze, the only thing she saw clearly being the island that she was marooned on and the words that she would spill to Commodore Norrington. Zari could feel the disgust twisting in her stomach.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The Commodore turns suddenly, his once steely expression turning soft and surprised at her gesture.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Elizabeth, are you accepting the Commodore’s proposal?” her father inquired, a smile spread across his face.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I am,” she says quietly, after pondering for a couple seconds.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Weddings! I love weddings! Drinks all around!” Jack chimes in happily, but his wide smile falters once he sees the array of disapproving expressions cast in his direction.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He, then, lowers his hands and puts them together in submission. “I know, ‘clap him in irons’, right?” he asked.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The Commodore remains silent before making eye contact with Zari once more. “Zari Martinez, you and Jack Sparrow will convene at the helm with a bearing for Isla de Muerta. Once we are there, you will both be shut in the brig and silenced until our work is done. Do I make myself clear?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Inescapably,” is Zari’s only response, before the men at her flanks escorted her up the flight of stairs that she was closest to. </p>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="">
  <p></p>
  <div class="">
    <p>The bearing was set.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="">
    <p>The helmsman wasted no time, in regards to following the instructions set by Zari and Jack Sparrow. Jack Sparrow remained free of binds, watched closely by officers standing by the Commodore and his Leftenant. Zari hadn’t benefitted from the same treatments, the surrounding officers still paranoid of her having some scheme up her sleeves.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="">
    <p>They were not wrong in that regard, she definitely had a plan to get herself out of the situation she found herself in. However, it would not be in the manner that they are assuming.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="">
    <p>She gazes around at the ominous fog, taking notice of the broken hulls and helms breaching the surface of the waters. The air felt dense in this portion of the voyage, the eerie energy pressing down on her shoulders. She could feel the otherworldly presence haunting these shores, her visions feeling more like a hazy dream the closer they sailed toward Isla de Muerta.</p>
  </div>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The island would soon come into their sights, the fog dispersing almost like they had passed under a doorway to another room. The dark ocean was calm beneath the hull of The Dauntless, the noise of the waves lapping against the wood planks at a minimum. In any other circumstances, this voyage would have rendered peaceful to Zari.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>However, she was in binds, and not on her own ship.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“We are here,” she says calmly, causing the Commodore to turn towards her with the same even eyes.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“You are to go into the brig, then. We will no longer require your assistance,” he states calmly. He turns back to the lower-ranks that were awaiting his command, staring down at them. “When she is behind bars once more, we will prepare the long boats to observe the Black Pearl and create a plan of attack. Mr. Sparrow will accompany me, and the rest of you are to remain close.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Once he begins to head down the stairs, a couple more officers return to Zari’s flanks. Their hands clasp against her biceps now, much more rushed than they had been previously, and they pull her along down the set of stairs to the deck. They turn her quickly, tugging her below decks and toward the iron bars she had grown accustomed to all this time.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>They push her inside, and do not unlock her shackles this time. Instead, they just shut the door and backtrack the way that they came in the same rhythmic, mirrored fashion.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Once again, Zari sinks to the floor of the cage and begins to tune herself to her surroundings. The once muffled bustle on the top deck was now amplified, and she could hear the officer’s climbing down to the long boats. Once they were all seated and prepared, she could hear the oars pushing against the water to ferry them all to a portion of the island which would render them out of view of the Pearl, but not at a disadvantage.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She focused on the stepping of the guards that paced back and forth on the top deck, the shouting of Elizabeth as she was forced into the captain’s quarters for her own safety.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Zari almost cracked a small smile at the mention of the cursed pirates. It amused her, her own power limitations against beings of supernatural origins. What worried her, however, was one of the higher ranking naval officers laughing at the aspect of the curse.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He would pay for that later. She read that much into the Commodore’s future. The vision of what she saw was blurred, like a fever dream, and that alone told her just enough for her to be discomforted.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>There was silence. Just the rhythmic marching of those who were left on the ship to ensure it’s safety. To ensure that she remained locked away, out of sight and out of mind to those who are involved in this series of events. To ensure that she did not tip the scales in any one’s favor.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Several minutes later, she hears a soft scuttle. Soundless, to those who were not trained to listen for it. It causes her to raise her head, and hum just a bit in curiosity. It was time, for those to realize what exactly they had sailed themselves into. It was time, for those who had doubted to rethink their course of actions.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She feels something inside of herself stir. As if the supernatural energies emitting from those who were beginning to climb the sides of the ship were fueling her. She chuckles softly, looking down at herself once more. She hums softly, a tranquil yet morbid tune, as the tips of her fingers glide over the locks of her shackles.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>Click.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The shackles break apart, the steely chill on her wrists quickly disappearing as they clatter loudly on the ground.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She grips her wrists softly to give them a gentle rub, now that the weight had gone. She could hear the remaining of the cursed pirates finish their ascent, hearing the clattering on the top deck as they began to sneak toward the officers to begin their assassination.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She continues the same morbid tune, her hands brushing through the bars connecting to the large lock on the cage. Her fingers curl around the edges, till her fingertips brush over the key hole slowly.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>Click.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Perfect.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Zari pushes the door of the brig slowly, hearing the low creak with the utmost satisfaction painted on her face. She gazes around to take in her surroundings, trying to locate her effects. The Commodore had brought them on board, that much she remembered, just so that they could locate something off of her in relations to her spells and witchcraft.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She grins once her hat is in her sights, her weapons and other little charms bundled next to it neatly. She strides over, the heels of her boots clicking against the wood panels gently. Enough to where the ambushing pirates could not hear her.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She flips the hat back onto her head, dropping her arms and beginning to latch the holsters on her hip. She checks her sword to make sure it was not damaged, much to her relief, and then turns her head to observe her pistol. Nothing. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Just as she left it.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She tosses on her coat, which they had left folded neatly, shrugging it onto her shoulders before beginning to ascend up. As she began her first step, a sudden shouting hit her eardrums. The drawing of blades, gun shots. Anything that would point to a battle.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Another lopsided grin. Just what she had predicted. Everything that she had seen, everything that she worked for, led to this moment. This would be her out, her freedom from the Royal Navy. Her chance at being able to sail the seas again, under her own crew or someone else’s.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The clanking of metal only grew louder as she drew closer to the top deck, glancing around quickly to check her surroundings when her head breached the outside world. The wind at her cheeks and the skeletons killing those around her sent a slight chill down her spine, but not one that would linger for an extended period of time.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She hears something romping towards her, bones against wood planks only speeding closer. She spins around, drawing her sword in just enough time to block an incoming attack from an opponent with a cloud clank.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She grins and laughs, pushing the sword away before swiping at the skeleton quickly. Obviously her hits did nothing against the cursed being, but that does not stop her from cocking her pistol with her free hand. She pulls it from her holster with ease, aiming it up at her opposition’s head. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Grinning widely, her ringed finger squeezes the trigger. <em>Boom.</em> </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Their head gets blown by the point blank shot by Zari, and it rattles onto the ground.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The body ceases, for just a moment, before it collapses onto the ground temporarily. She whips her head around once a new noise rings out into the night, the sounds of a bell ringing out from the Dauntless. To give the men out at sea a warning that there was an ambush happening on deck.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>For only a few seconds, that is allowed to happen, before the nearest pirate drives a sword through the the Sailor’s chest. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She would only need to keep them busy for a few more minutes, before the remaining of the men were to climb on deck and take control.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She goes below deck after she could feel the atmosphere shifting, to check and see if anyone else had been stragglers. She hears something dragging across the floor, like a canon being pushed from its usual position.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She turns quickly, to see two men clad in tattered dresses lighting a canon. She could only assume that it was aimed at the Commodore and his men, rowing in the waters.</p>
  <p>Zari could feel her heart skip a beat, when she noticed the canons fuze had been lit. She didn’t understand why she would care about what occurred to the Navy rowing diligently towards the Dauntless, why in her right mind she would want them to be safe. The men who had spent the last several days keeping her imprisoned, and she wanted them to have life.</p>
  <p>Maybe it was because they didn’t kill her. Maybe it was because they really could have left her to rot, but decided against it for so long. Maybe it was because Zari read into the Commodore’s future, and something she saw left her with a bit of sentiment.</p>
  <p>Regardless, she would not let them die.</p>
  <p>Relief struck her nerves, when she heard the first shot hit the waters with no screaming. Nothing painful, just the commanding officers shouting their unit towards the ladders on the hull of the ship.</p>
  <p>Before the two dress-clad men could fire off another shot, Zari bolted forward faster than they could turn around to her oncoming steps. She managed to club the lanky one on the back of the head with the hilt of her sword, enough to cause him to turn around.</p>
  <p>However, it wasn’t her that caught his attention. It was the small circular object that began rolling on the floor, and when he turned toward her she could see that he had an eye missing from its socket. She could hear it dragging on the floor, signifying that it was a tough material. Wood, was more likely.</p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>He didn’t even shout, before he scrambled onto the floor to try to chase it down.</p>
  <p>Zari and the opposing pirate in yellow watched him, but only for a little, before turning to each other. As if the dots began to connect, they snarl at one another and he draws his weapon.</p>
  <p>It would be a mystery, how he managed a sword with the dress on. It was not one that Zari was willing to inquire about, though.</p>
  <p>They lunged toward each other, crossing blades roughly. The shrill grinding of steel echoed below decks, just to the audience of three that were immediately there.</p>
  <p>Zari did not bother with threats and taunts this time, since now there were lives on the line. She just needed to distract the two of them long enough for the Naval officers to begin to climb up the ladders.</p>
  <p>A couple more swipes of their weapons, and now the pirate who was crawling for his eye had joined them with their weapon drawn. He lets out a nervous laugh, a dopey noise, before he decides to join his companion in battle.</p>
  <p>Now here Zari was, deflecting and orchestrating the swipes of both of the pirates. She flourished, her steps now becoming something of a dance with the two swords becoming her partners. Intricate turns were laden with her counterattacks, and even though none of them seemed to connect, she did not mind.</p>
  <p>This would give them ample time to begin climbing.</p>
  <p>Zari could hear the officers clamoring up the sides of the ship, and a small smirk stretched across her face. Finally, she was able to break concentration.</p>
  <p>The two pirates both pull their arms back, and lunge their swords forward at chest height to try to give her no way out. She only responded by bending herself backwards, the blades of the swords crossing over her nose with mere millimeters of room.</p>
  <p>She manages to shift her weight in a way to where she was able to roll herself to the side, without being struck, and stands up straight in the same motion. She put herself back towards the stairs, in which the pirates both stare at her in awe and confusion.</p>
  <p>“Ta, gentleman,” she says and turns quickly, sprinting up the stairs that she had come down. She could hear them yelling behind her, following her up.</p>
  <p>However, she was just too quick for them. She outran them with ease, disappearing into the crowd of officers and pirates that swarmed the upper decks. All paying attention to one another, so she snaked through the crowd with no issue.</p>
  <p>They had lost her in a matter of seconds, and that was exactly what she was counting on. They immediately get caught in the middle of another fight with some sailors, while Zari made her way up to the helm.</p>
  <p>In that moment, she took notice that two of the skeleton pirates had decided to team up against the Commodore. After all, he and Zari were the most ample sword fighters on this ship. While all of the remaining officers struggled with their one opponent, they were able to take on multiple.</p>
  <p>Zari comes up quickly with the cock of her flintlock, and the sound causes the one at the end of the barrel to turn.</p>
  <p>She doesn’t say anything, just flashed a wicked grin before she pulls the trigger. There’s a loud bang, and the skeletal being has his forehead almost concave.</p>
  <p>It was enough to have him crumple, but only for a little.</p>
  <p>It was enough for the Commodore to glance over at her, but not the malice in his eyes was no longer present. It was thankful, genuine. He understood that she just saved his life, no matter what situation he put her in, and he was grateful now to have her siding with him for the moment.</p>
  <p>It didn’t last long, though, as he begins to cross blades with a skeleton bearing dreadlocks with quick contempt.</p>
  <p>Zari sided with them in a heartbeat, immediately finding someone else to dance around with. Finding someone else to provide her with the same form of entertainment that she had gotten with the rest of the events that were transpiring. It was like finding a partner for a dance, picking someone out in a crowd who had at least some hope of keeping up with her.</p>
  <p>The look in her eyes and her sinister grin on her face were such a contrast to her mildly timid behavior that she had during her journey with the Commodore and the rest of the sailors. So many were weary of her presence, all with good reason, but at the wrong times. Now here she was, practically twirling around the cursed pirates with ease, with malicious intent behind her smile.</p>
  <p>Whomever had spotted her out of the navy were just happy that she was fighting with them for the moment. Enemy of her enemy was her friend, there was no reason to fight the officers whom were just doing the job that they enlisted themselves upon. She was always ten steps ahead of them, therefore they proved no real threat to her.</p>
  <p>Almost like a snap, somehow, the cursed skeletons had changed. It was almost too quick, the way their skin and muscle had appeared like a chameleon changing its colors. Those who had a sword driven through them would shakily stare at their wounds, as if feeling the life draining from their bodies would take moments to process, before they would begin to topple and crumple onto the wooden planks.</p>
  <p>The ones who remained whole would drop their weapons, now knowing that this fight that they had itched for would no longer prove successful. When it was clear of their surrender, the navy took their moment to bask in their success, with cheers and huzzahs echoing through the misty skies.</p>
  <p>It was then, Zari decided to move towards the back of the ship, and climb onto the railing. She balances on the small beam, with perfect grace, and takes off her hat before tossing it gently into the waters below. The tricorn remained pointed to the skies, so the feather wouldn’t be damaged by the sea, and she waited for a moment for there to be some distance. </p>
  <p>She looked back at the celebrations, the governor who had been hiding in the captain’s quarters finally joining the officers. However, none of them would notice her disappearance, not until she had been long gone.</p>
  <p>At least, until she met eyes with the Commodore.</p>
  <p>However, he does not raise any fuss. He doesn’t even glare in her direction.</p>
  <p>Instead he nods, ever so slightly, in gratitude. He knew that she had helped them. She had saved his life, when she could have very well let him die. She could see it, he would not be able to repay her in any way besides letting her go.</p>
  <p>So she pantomimes the motion of brushing the tip of her hat in salute, giving him a sly wink before diving into the still darkness below.</p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>It wasn’t that long after, that Zari found herself back at Port Royal. Only a couple of days spent on the Black Pearl, which she had prompted to return to the island. Because now, she had a plan to save Jack Sparrow from the gallows.</p>
  <p>She had read into his future, once Gibbs had questioned Jack’s whereabouts. He had found himself in the company of the Navy once more, after helping Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann with the return of the medallion. Now he was due for a hanging, while Will was granted unfair clemency for his choice in affiliations.</p>
  <p>So Zari now donned a sultry wine dress, with a matching hat that had a wide brim. On it, there was flowers, white and pink roses. Something regal, for her to blend in. However, the tattooed lines across the bridge of her nose and the dots on her cheekbones would give her away to anyone who had seen her over the last couple of days. So she lowered the brim, enough to where one of her eyes is obscured by her hat.</p>
  <p>She hears the drums begin to roll, and someone had begun to read off Jack Sparrow’s convicted crimes and final statements. </p>
  <p>She weaves through the crowd, her head low so she was not in someone’s immediate sights. Keeping herself away from the soldiers that were littered around the outskirts of the fort. She caught a glimpse of the Commodore, standing to the right of the Governor. To their left was Elizabeth, watching the hanging with clear contempt in her eyes.</p>
  <p>The ones who were present the last few days knew that this was wrong, however could not argue since the Commodore was bound by the law.</p>
  <p>She turns her head over her shoulder, to see young Will Turner pushing himself through the crowd toward the Governor. The sight made her frown just a tad, knowing that this was the very moment that James would realize that his efforts for Elizabeth’s hand would end up on Will’s side of the board instead.</p>
  <p>It was something she wished would not happen, however it was not in her path to prevent it.</p>
  <p>She watches closely, as Will turns away from the three of them to push himself through the crowd and towards the gallows. Maybe her own plan would not need to be enacted, not in the way that she had originally planned.</p>
  <p>Will draws his sword once he is closer, the executioner beginning to put his hand on the lever to drop Jack Sparrow a couple more inches off of the ground floor. She observes, quite calm as the lever gets pulled with a sudden jerk. The floor panel beneath Jack opens with a matching quickness, but Will stops his descent with the throw of a sword.</p>
  <p>It lodges into the trap door, giving Jack just enough footing to stop him from choking as fast as the normal hanging would permit. Will begins to battle the executioner’s large axe, weaving around Jack Sparrow at enough distance to render the pirate safe.</p>
  <p>Zari, now with a fan drawn in front of her face to obscure her from the officers that began to sprint for the interruption, moves her attention to the rope that kept Jack Sparrow suspended in the air. She begins to hum again to herself, dragging her nail gently against the wood of the fan. Little by little, she notices the rope begin to fray.</p>
  <p>One. The outside of the fabric splayed out, while Will deflected a heavy swipe from the executioner. Two, now the middle of the rope was about the size of a finger, barely holding up the weight of the wiggling man left in the noose. Three, a snap, and Jack Sparrow plummets to the ground.</p>
  <p>No one in the public seemed to notice the phenomenon, as they were fleeing from the fort so the Navy could swoop in and get some form of handle on the situation. Zari, now that her part was played in his escape, began to stride toward the exit of the fort.</p>
  <p>Ironically, where the Governor and his company had been standing this entire time.</p>
  <p>She retreats at the back of the crowd, slowly, drawing closer and closer to the Commodore’s side as he tried to figure out what to make of this situation that had just transpired.</p>
  <p>He had been the only one to notice the oddity of how Jack Sparrow’s rope began to slowly deteriorate, and she could read that on his face. He knew, that she had been present here at the fort. After all, she was the only one that he knew that would have that sort of ability.</p>
  <p>So once she’s in earshot of him, close enough so that his company would not hear, she pulls the fan away from her mouth and turns her head. Her free hand lifts up the brim of her flower-lined hat, and she smiles. Devilish and sweet.</p>
  <p>“Commodore,” she greets simply, causing him to rear his head towards her.</p>
  <p>She expected some form of annoyance from him. He had let her go once, and now she had come back to rub it in his face. At least, that’s what she presumed he would think. However, his expression was almost star struck, as if he did not expect to see her again so soon.</p>
  <p>So she holds her smile as she walks away, casting one look over her shoulder. She mimicked the same wink she had given him before taking her dive off of the Dauntless, back on their battle of Isla de Muerta. </p>
  <p>Before he could turn fully, his lower ranking officers began to funnel around her. Drowning her in a sea of red and white coats, with bayonetted muskets. In coordinated chaos, his eyes searched for her so he could question her. Ask her why she had come back, and assisted with Jack Sparrow’s escape.</p>
  <p>It felt like hours, before the Naval officers had finally stopped arriving.</p>
  <p>Only to see that she was no where in sight.</p>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Zari had disappeared over the fort wall into the safety of the dark blue abyss as Will Turner and Jack Sparrow worked out the rest of his freedom with the Governor of Port Royal. Luckily for Jack Sparrow, Will Turner elected to stay behind while Commodore Norrington’s good intentions granted Sparrow a day’s head start. A day to sail toward the infinite horizon with Zari joining their ranks of the Black Pearl.</p><p>His crew had voiced their transgressions about having another woman aboard the ship, however Zari was not inclined to listen. After displaying that she was a witch, they seemed less argumentative to her wishes to stay amongst them.</p><p>There was much that was done, in the several months that had seemed to pass while Zari was on board the Pearl. The Royal Navy were quickly on their tail again, managing to stay close to the Pearl for days at a time. Until a hurricane off Tripoli had severed their ties of destiny, and the gray bog had swallowed their ship into nothingness.</p><p>Not far after, something had come to her while she was in a slumber. A vison, a warning, about the future of the crew and those around her. However, the threat that would oppose them remained nothing but a mystery, like a cloud had hung low around her eyes to obscure her vision; just enough to where she could not make sense of it all.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Darkness. The sensation felt comforting, after so long of living in it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Zari could do nothing about the haze that hung around her eyes, no matter how much she wanted to just wish it away. The sounds around her were muffled, as if someone were cupping their hands over her ears. The atmosphere felt like a fever dream, which prompted her that this was a dream. A vision, coming to her to warn her about their distant future.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>However, something was keeping her out. Something not from this plane, obscuring her so she could not gain the upper hand. Through the bog, she could hear loud thudding. Sinister laughter echoing through her ears, shrouded in the storm of her mind.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>There was a dull feeling of rain, pattering against her open skin. She almost paid too close attention to the feeling of droplets, trying to fish for some form of normalcy through this sudden eerie mystery. No matter how much she tried to focus on the forms that danced around her, she could not make out any sort of detail that would lead her closer to an answer.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>There was thudding, as silenced as it had been. Hard footsteps, someone staggering with each push as they drew closer to her. She could feel the panic rising in her chest, a sensation that she was not used to. Not anymore.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>They spoke. What they said, Zari could not make out. Only every other syllable, every other sharp sound. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Oh, but the sensation she could feel afterwards. Something constrict around her hand, hugging it tighter and tighter. However, it was only for a moment. She could feel the slippery texture, even through the obscurity of it all, the feeling causing a chill to ripple up her spine.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Once it relinquished it’s hold, it seemed to fade away. Just as quickly as it arrived, and it caused her to pull her hand up.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Her own form had been clouded, now. However, even through her struggle, something dark began to eclipse her palm.</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>She didn’t remember the last time she woke up in a start. Her visions never left her with a feeling of doom or helplessness. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Enlightenment and guidance was something that would always follow, but this had felt so…different. There was much more warning behind what she had seen, and the fact she could not figure out what it entailed left her with a pit in her stomach.</p><p>She sat with it for weeks.</p><p>It ate at her day and night, chipping away at every logical thing swirling around in her brain. She could not place what she had seen, what she had felt. The impending doom that had crept behind her, just to hold her tight. She couldn’t find a way to shake it, not with menial tasks on the deck of the ship, or conversation with the crew that she had come to know.</p><p>Not even when earning her place as a witch doctor, amongst a clan of cannibals that inhabited an island. </p><p>Luckily, that did not last long, before they were out at sea. William Turner had found his way back to the crew in that time, finding the Pearl beached on the island and coming up with a way to free the rest of the crew from imprisonment.</p><p>They also made a quick trip to visit one of Jack Sparrow’s old friends, and Zari’s accomplice: Tia Dalma. Their purpose of the visit was to help Jack locate the key that he had been searching for, since his compass did not seem to point in the direction that he needed it to. Through her fascinations with Will Turner, and reminiscing with Zari, Tia Dalma had given them the location of the Flying Dutchman.</p><p>While Zari had been enthused to be back on the seas, they found themselves in a scenario in which had felt all-too familiar to her. Tickling at the back of her neck, like a spider had been crawling on it. The pattern of the storm around them felt identical to the muffled feeling in her vision, causing the same familiar cold to shake through her body.</p><p>This was the beginning, what occurred before her vision. She had to tell someone.</p><p>She approaches Jack Sparrow, who had been standing with William Turner and Mr. Gibbs. Staring at a distant shipwreck, they were conversing amongst themselves about a plan involving Will rowing over and finding the key.</p><p>“Jack Sparrow, I need you to listen to me,” she says quietly as she watches William climb over the railing of the ship. “This… This does not bode well. I had seen something about this, months ago.”</p><p>“Seen?” he questions, looking over at her. “I’m sure you’ve seen a pleather of things in that head of yours.”</p><p>He moves around her so he could look down at William, who had climbed into the rowboat with ease. “If you do managed to get captured, tell them Jack Sparrow sent you to settle his debt! Might save your life!”</p><p>Ragetti, who had joined them when they were stranded on the island, sent off the rowboat with a harsh push before cackling. He climbed back up the side of the ship with ease, before looking at Jack for further intruction.</p><p>“Jack Sparrow, listen to my warnings,” Zari pushed once more. “No good will come of summoning the Flying Dutchman. This choice will leave grave error, and pain for many months.”</p><p>Jack turned toward her quickly, eyeing her. “There is only one location of the key, and that is with the Flying Dutchman. There is no other way of getting the Flying Dutchman, unless we summon it.”</p><p>He turned to everyone else, pausing a bit so he could think, and then finally opened his mouth to speak. “Douse the lamps.”</p><p>Like insects, they all scattered to all ends of the ship. One by one, the lanterns shut off, causing the area to be coated in the very familiar darkness that she had felt in her visions.</p><p>She swallowed, her breathing beginning to quake as they waited.</p><p>Minutes felt like hours. Time was at a crawl, as she waited for the inevitable to happen. Everything that she tried to warn him about, was going to unravel here. She could feel it in the weight that began to sink on her shoulders.</p><p>Her breathing hitched, however, when she saw a ship rise out of the water. The sea rained from underneath the deck like waterfalls, and Zari could hear the rushing of the water from where she stood on the deck of the ship. Her heart hammered in her chest, as the inevitability began to settle in her stomach. This was it.</p><p>Without the spyglass that Jack Sparrow had been using to observe, Zari could make out the shapes of the Dutchman’s crew grabbing those who had been left alive on the wreckage–William to be included. All of the Dutchman’s crew, obscured and masked by the sea’s overgrowth on their faces and bodies.</p><p>Some of them no longer had retained any of their human form, their bodies replaced by those of sea creatures.</p><p>It sent another chill to dance through her body. She could not imagine, feeling whatever was left of their humanity being whittled away as they served under the Dutchman. Even as a witch, she could still cling onto the familiarity of her own body. The men whom she was witnessing had lost that privilege.</p><p>She saw the survivors being hauled to the Dutchman’ which remained steady in the cruel waters, and it didn’t take long for them to kneel in a line. Out came the Captain, swaggering over to take a close look at those who had been unfortunate enough to survive.</p><p>Zari peeled her eyes away so she could calm herself. Her heartbeat rang in her chest, the atmospheric sensations around her ringing with all sorts of familiarity. The storm, the way the clouds were casted over. Whatever little details that her vision allowed her to have, she had been able to feel, and it was causing her stomach to do flips.</p><p>After a few more seconds of her eyes being averted, she looks back up once more. She expected to see Jack Sparrow with the spyglass against his eye, still, but instead saw the Captain of the Flying Dutchman standing on the deck of their ship. Like wild magic, the rest of his crew had appeared, drawing their blades and holding them against the flesh of those who were living.</p><p>Including Zari.</p><p>The crewmate had a fist full of her hair to hold her steady, a sword drawn and pressed against the skin of her neck. It was only then her pulse began to settle, her body understanding that she was now in danger and she needed to remain calm. She could feel the hand clasping begin to dampen her hair, and while it was not the same slimy feeling that she had felt in her vision, it gave her a pang of recognition.</p><p>This is what she had warned Jack Sparrow about, and he had elected to ignore her.</p><p>She remained still, as to not get herself hurt during this time. And while she could very much get herself out of the situation, she did not want to risk the lives of the crew.</p><p>“You have a debt to pay,” the captain snarled, marching toward Jack Sparrow.</p><p>Jack began to walk backwards, to keep the distance between himself and the creature who had begun stamping towards him. The thudding against the wooden planks echoed to Zari, replaying the noises that she had heard in her vision. She was seeing him, hearing him limping across the decks of the Pearl. It was then she realized that her vision was not her, but perhaps Jack Sparrow.</p><p>Yes, it was her body, her consciousness experiencing the shrouded horrors. But it was in Jack Sparrow’s place.</p><p>“You’ve been captain of the Black Pearl for thirteen years! That was our agreement!”</p><p>Jack seemed to fumble with his words, trying to compose himself at the figure. “Technically, I was only captain for two years, and then I was viciously mutinied upon.”</p><p>“Then you were a poor captain, but a captain nonetheless,” he turns to his disformed crew with an amused smile. “Have you not introduced yourself all these years as ‘Captain Jack Sparrow’?”</p><p>Jack’s face seems to fidget and twitch, before he turned around to face his debt collector. “You have my payment. One soul to serve on your ship, and he’s already on board.”</p><p>“One soul does not equal to another-”</p><p>“Ah, so we’ve established that this is sound in principle, and now we’re just haggling over price.”</p><p>“Price?” he sputters, a bit taken aback by Jack’s counter argument.</p><p>“Just how many souls do you think my soul is worth?”</p><p>“One hundred souls. Three days.”</p><p>“You’re a diamond!” Jack exclaims, grinning widely as he turns around to walk the other direction. “Just send me back the boy and I shall get started right away-”</p><p>One of the Dutchman’s crewmates steps in front of Jack, sneering at him before Davy Jones begins to speak again.</p><p>“I keep the boy, as a good faith payment. That only leaves you ninety-nine more to go,” Davy laughed, his crew chiming in with the same laughter.</p><p>“Have you met Will Turner? He’s worth at least four… maybe three and half,” Jack sparrow tried, approaching Davy Jones once more since he was not permitted to step away just yet. “And did I mention he’s in love?”</p><p>The sentence seems to stop Davy in his tracks, a longing look crossing behind his blue eyes. He was thinking, pondering. Reflecting on the choices that he had made once before. But after a couple seconds of silence, the same authority had returned to his expression.</p><p>“I keep the boy. Ninety-nine more to go,” he returned. “But I wonder, Sparrow. Can you condemn a man, a friend, to a lifetime of servitude in your name?”</p><p>Jack is only quiet for a little, averting his eyes as he fishes through his head for a disturbingly little amount of time. He smiles brightly afterwards. “Yep! I’m good with it. Shall we seal it in blood- I mean, ink?”</p><p>It was then Davy Jones’s hand jerked forward, a tentacle that had been hiding up his barnacle-encrusted jacket slithering around Jack sparrow’s hand and tightening. The same fashion that it had in Zari’s vision. The feeling caused Jack to gasp and shutter, as Zari could hear the appendage move around Jack’s wrist.</p><p>“Three days,” Davy repeated, before jerking it away.</p><p>With that, the Dutchman’s crew relinquished their holds on those who were serving the Pearl. There was a couple breaths of relief, some whimpering from those who were more afraid. Zari, however, just promptly fixed her hair and huffed when she was let go. Her eyes were burning with anger, and her gaze was aimed right at Jack Sparrow.</p><p>Just as quickly as Davy Jones and his men had appeared, they disappeared into the shadows and back to where they had come.</p><p>“Uh, Mr. Gibbs?” Jack called, as he stared at his hand that had been covered in slime. “I feel sullied and usual.”</p><p>“How do you intend to collect these souls, Jack Sparrow?” Zari immediately questioned, stepping forward and crossing her arms over her chest.</p><p>“Unfortunately for him,” Jack began, “he was mum to the conditions in which these souls need be.”</p><p>“Ah, Tortuga,” Gibbs chimed in after, but reeled backwards once Jack Sparrow had slapped his slime covered hand against his chest and began to wipe.</p><p>“Tortuga,” Jack agreed, all while his gaze remained straight. Unwavering against the dark abyss that they had been surrounded in.</p><p> </p><p>It didn’t take long for them to port in Tortuga. A few days of nonstop sailing, the wheel being tossed around between Jack, Gibbs, and Zari. After all, after the events that transpired, they all found it a bit impossible to find time to rest. The weight of the time had sent them all in a bit of a silent panic, trying to get to their destination so they could begin their recruitment–and soon.</p><p>The tavern had been the same. Zari could hear the loud cackling and the hornpipes blaring through the building, a few pistol shots discharging every few minutes to add some form of variety to the discord.</p><p>Gibbs had set himself up at a long table with a roster for the men to sign, not really paying too much attention to those who had walked up. He asked for their story, to give some form of normalcy to their mass recruitment, but told them to sign regardless of their physical capabilities.</p><p>Jack Sparrow had himself tucked behind Gibbs, shaking his compass in frustration as he tried to figure out their next heading after Tortuga had served  its purpose.</p><p>Zari had a bottle of rum in her hands, the alcohol serving its purpose to shake the feeling of distress that had made a home in her lungs the last several months. She only knew as time went on, the events that were to transpire would only be worse. She couldn’t see anything concrete, though, everything having the same faded affect her vision had been.</p><p>“What’s your story?” she could hear Gibbs ask one of the men in line, and was about to tune out the background noise once more so she could enjoy the rest of her drink.</p><p>Until she heard the voice.</p><p>“My story…” the stranger began to speak. “It’s exactly the same as your story except one chapter behind. I chased a man across the seven seas. The pursuit cost me my crew, my commission, and my life.”</p><p>He reached for the bottle that Gibbs had on the table, taking it for himself and taking a drink as Gibbs finally settled on who it had been.</p><p>“Commodore?” Gibbs gasped.</p><p>It caused Zari to turn in her seat, to observe what the man had become now that he had been in Tortuga.</p><p>James had looked the same, however his uniform had been sullied with dirt and mud. His powdered wig was fraying underneath his tricorn hat, standing out at all sides. His face, also decorated with flecks of mud, had begun to sport a beard that Zari had found quite becoming.</p><p>“No, not anymore, weren’t you listening?” James snapped, before leaning down in front of Gibbs. “I nearly had you all off Tripoli. I would have, if not for the hurricane.”</p><p>Zari slid off of her seat, stepping carefully toward the two of them before opening her mouth to speak. “James… You didn’t try to sail through it?”</p><p>Her voice seemed to trigger something in James, causing him to raise his head immediately and gaze at her. His eyes, originally filled with hostility, seemed to soften just a tad when they landed on her. Almost like he found it relieving to see her again, after everything that she had done to help him before.</p><p>However, as quick as the flash of humanity had appeared, it was replaced with malice as he turned to Gibbs. “So do I make your crew, or not?” he hissed.</p><p>Gibbs seemed to stumble on his words, due to not wanting to sign James over to sell his soul to Davy Jones. From what Zari understood, the two were commissioned together around a decade ago, so Gibbs had a respect for Norrington that hadn’t been wavered.</p><p>Before Gibbs could give him an answer, James had gripped the end of the table and flipped it up so the force knocked Gibbs backwards and onto the floor. “So am I worthy of serving under Captain Jack Sparrow?” he shouts into the crowd, which had cleared when he sent Gibbs tumbling back.</p><p>He draws his pistol and pulls the hammer back, aiming it up at Jack Sparrow. Jack had been trying to remove himself from the room, holding up a large stem of a plant in front of himself so his face would be obscured.</p><p>“Or should I just kill you now?” James concluded, his pistol unwavering in his hands.</p><p>Jack peers up from behind the leaf, staring at Norrington for a few seconds before speaking. “You’re hired.”</p><p>“Sorry,” James starts again, a hostile smile playing at the edge of his lips. “Old habits and all that.”</p><p>“James-” Zari tried to cut in, to diffuse the situation, but two of the newly recruited crew members gathered on Norrington and aimed James’s pistol to the ceiling of the tavern. </p><p>“Easy! That’s our captain you’re aimin’ at!” they defend, and James discharges a shot into the roof.</p><p>Zari could hear it ricochet off of one of the walls, and then a bottle shattered in the hands of one of the patrons. Of course, that did not end well, and one of the bystanders ended up getting a punch to their jaw.</p><p>As if on cue, the musicians had begun to play the same jolly tune on their instruments, but it had a faster pace to it to match the chaos that began to ensue around them.</p><p>Zari ducked out of the way as people began to converge in the middle with their swords drawn, ducking by Jack Sparrow and Mr. Gibbs to stay out of the way of the chaos.</p><p>“Time to go,” Jack states simply, earning a quick ‘aye’ from both Zari and Gibbs.</p><p>They began to weave through the crowd of people, pausing when a couple of patrons would crash into something in front of them. Zari could barely hear herself think through the amount of glass shattering and pistol shots that she could hear ringing through the tavern. She stayed close behind Gibbs, exhaling softly.</p><p>She wished that she could have stopped James, somehow. That she could have convinced him not to fire that shot, because she knew that he would end up tossed out in the end.</p><p>They move for the stairs, pushing past anyone who had decided to fight near the railings. A bottle flies past Zari’s nose, shattering against the wall. As much as she should have flinched due to how close it had been, she remained steel-faced as she continued to ascent with the other two men.</p><p>Jack had been swapping hats with some of the bystanders and fighters, finding all of this to be quite unsurprising. Considering Tortuga and the company she kept, Zari couldn’t blame him for being quite nonchalant about it. She had lived here most of her life, and no matter how much she kept to the shadows she always found herself in the middle of the livelihood.</p><p>And soon, the two of them were out of the door and wrapping around the tavern to head back to the ship.</p><p>She could hear the cheering inside, signifying that James Norrington had finally met his match inside of the chaos. As much as it should have caused her amusement, seeing James with that wild look in his eye had her quite worried. He had always been one with a plan, knowing where his life was going to go. Who he wanted to keep for company, what he wanted to do. </p><p>And now here he was, drinking whatever years he had left.</p><p>She watched, as a crowd had shuffled out of the tavern with Norrington held up by his arms and legs. They guided themselves to the pens, where the pigs had made their home, and began to swing him back and forth.</p><p>On the third go, the group had let Norrington fly. The former officer went catapulting into the pig pens, startling the animals and causing him to stir slowly from his unconsciousness.</p><p>Zari couldn’t help but peel herself away from Gibbs and Sparrow, informing them that she would return in just a moment before she began to head for the pens. She could see James begin to prop himself up slowly, sluggishly, the drinks that he had and the brawl he participated in beginning to catch up. When she was closer, she exhaled softly and knelt down next to the pen.</p><p>“James Norrington,” she spoke softly, causing him to slowly turn his attention to her. His eyes were sad, practically begging her to hold some form of pity of the man writhing in the mud. </p><p>“What have they done to you?” she whispers, moving forward so she was now at the edge of the pig pen. She extends her hand kindly, offering him assistance to stand on his feet.</p><p>He seems reluctant at first to take her hand, his expression a bit shameful at the aspect of her seeing him like this. When they first met, he held her on the Dauntless to help find the one that he loved. Now, he was without rank, without his love. He had nothing. However, he swallows the bit of shame, his hand clasping hers tightly before she pulled him up straight.</p><p>She observes him, just a bit, noticing that during the scuffle that he had lost his hat. Not that it mattered to her.</p><p>“For what it’s worth now,” she begins, letting go of his hand and dropping her arm back at her side, “I’m glad to see you, James. You had me worried, chasing us near that hurricane.”</p><p>He doesn’t seem to respond, dropping his hazel eyes at the realization that she had actually cared for his safety, despite what he had put her through.</p><p>She smiles kindly just a bit, in reassurance, before reaching up and gripping the powdered wig that remained on his head. She pulled it off, revealing his natural brown locks hidden underneath, and tossed it recklessly to the side.</p><p>“You look much better without it,” she tells him before he could protest, turning on her heels and beginning to walk back to the Black Pearl.</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
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<p></p><div class=""><p>Zari had left James alone, after their reacquaintance on Tortuga.</p></div><div class=""><p>She could feel a rising resentment emitting through him, but not for her. No, it was never for her. It was for everyone else, the group of pirates who had outrun him in the hurricane; who had costed him his livelihood. Indirectly encouraged him to resign his commission, over the guilt that shame that he had felt inside.</p></div></div><div class="">
  <p>One night had passed. Due to the intense desire she felt to look over her own shoulders, she decided to take a look into the future of Jack Sparrow. Just to see what kind of fate that the rest of the crew would end up enduring, now that Davy Jones had Sparrow in his sights. So she lay in her hammock, eyes burning into the damp planks that lay above her. She closes her eyes, slowly, letting her mind slip into the comforting black.</p>
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    <em>She woke up suddenly. However, the place in which she found herself wasn’t her hammock. It wasn’t on the Pearl, even. She almost wanted to shield her eyes, with how sudden the blaring sun hit against her face. She half expected some form of warmth against her skin, but there was none.</em>
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    <em>Her eyes adjusted as much as they were able, once she dropped her hand. She was sitting on the fine line, between sandy shores and green foliage. Her surroundings would have been almost perfectly tranquil, however she grew cautious of the textured shapes that breezed by her. It was almost like walking snippets of monochromatic textured glass, fragmented in this picture perfect area.</em>
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    <em>It send a familiar chill down her spine. She breathed shakily, once she made first contact with one of the fragments. It passed through her, like a cold wind; an ominous feeling for a beautiful scene such as this. She looked over her shoulder, to see if she could make out where they were heading. In the middle of a couple of small sand hills, she saw Pintel and Ragetti holding something in between the both of them. It wasn’t a large item, but something big enough for the both of them to pick it up from both sides and still be moving at a fast pace.</em>
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    <em>Fast enough to outrun the things that had been chasing them.</em>
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    <em>It had the same texture as the moving figures, except it remained stationary. A box, a chest, containing something inside of it of supernatural origins.</em>
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    <em>They sprint for the longboat, Zari’s eyes following them closely. At the longboat, there were more people: Elizabeth, Will, Jack, James. </em>
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    <em>James, Jack, and Elizabeth had been fighting the distorted figures. She could hear the distant clanking of the swords, like she had been standing miles away from an event that was occurring ten feet from her. Will had rounded the side of the discord, aiming his blade at Pintel and Ragetti. The pair had brandished any items immediately in front of them, which happened to be an oar and a net.</em>
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    <em>The figures had finally finished pushing past Zari, all closing in on the group that were backing up towards their long boat. A set of them cut to the left, which causes Pintel and Ragetti to pull their focus from Will. When that does happen, Will looks down at the item that the two of them dropped in the long boat some seconds before. </em>
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    <em>His face had twisted into something of worry, of realization, before he scooped up the shape and held it in his hands.</em>
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    <em>Jack Sparrow had peered over his shoulder, to find out if the item was in safety. When he saw that Will had his hands on it, he gripped the other oar to the long boat tightly in his hands. Once he hit a moving fragment, he spun around and clubbed Will with it. The boy was knocked unconscious immediately, slumping forward into the long boat.</em>
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    <em>The rest of them had their backs against the tiny vessel, swords in front of them defensively. They traded a few words, but the distant noises were not tangible to Zari. It was like someone was cupping her ears again, same as her previous adventure into the future.</em>
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    <em>What caused her heart to drop to the ground, though, was when James hurriedly pulled the shape out of the long boat. She wanted to jerk forward, to shout his name, but when she opened her mouth to call out is when she remembered this was a dream. She could feel the words boil up in her chest, but nothing could ever breach into the scene playing out in front of her.</em>
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    <em>So she watched, in horror, as he deflected what Zari could assume were swings at him. Now all of the fragmented pieces were heading in the same direction as Norrington, some distance behind for him to be considered safe; but not far enough for him to be completely out of the mess that he had put himself into. Watching, as his figure sprinted back just inches away from her into the mass of palm trees she stood near. The gust of wind was back once more, the fragments moving past her just as quickly as James did.</em>
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  <p>She gasped awake. She was careful not to sit up, as she would slam her head on the boards above her. Everyone was still asleep soundly, but the daylight peeking through told her that they would all be awakened soon. So she slipped out of her hammock quietly, as to not awaken those who slept below, and moved to put on her jacket.</p>
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  <p>She slipped the garment on over her shoulders once she found it, putting on her hat and moving up the flight of stairs. She tried not to pay attention to the sunlight, keeping her eyes down so she could properly wake herself up before getting a taste of the morning. She sighed softly, moving towards the Captain’s quarter doors. She never entered them, promptly turning to move up the staircase and past the helm that Gibbs had been turning.</p>
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  <p>She gives her regards to him, moving past him to lean against the railing. To drink the surrounding ocean, relying on it to wash the worry down her back. The vision that she had, it left her with the same ominous aura she had prior. Her first vision was about Davy Jones, she was sure of it, and this one had to be linked to him as well.</p>
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  <p>That alone sent her heart racing.</p>
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  <p>So there she stood, for about thirty minutes. The men had gotten up and ready, all on deck after they had eaten their share of food. All were at their posts, minding their own for the time. She turns, seeing that Cotton had now replaced Gibbs while she had been alone in her own mind and that Gibbs was now joined by Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth.</p>
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  <p>In Jack’s hands was a letter, bound in leather. All three of them had their eyes set on it, talking amongst themselves about the origins of it. Apparently Elizabeth had brought it on board, keeping it hidden as she had stowed herself away with a crew she convinced to port into Tortuga. </p>
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  <p>His face was disgusted, closing up the binding after a couple of seconds. Zari was not interested in their conversations, really, but only one name that was spoken raised the hairs on the back of her neck.</p>
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  <p>Cutler Beckett, a sickening man who worked for the East India Trading Company. A man, though high on the social ladder, contained no moral compass. Anything that Beckett was involved in, Zari knew to steer clear of. He was the reason she and Jack shared the same brand, the same mark of death on the top of their right wrist.</p>
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  <p>And as suddenly as she tuned into their conversation, she pulled herself out of. She moved to the right set of stairs, descending them slowly and when she was only a few steps from the ground she sat herself down.</p>
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  <p>She didn’t pay attention to James’s wandering eyes, though. He had looked over at her when she took her seat, taking note of her distraught behaviors for a few seconds before he returned his attention to the boards that he was scrubbing. What did catch her attention, though, was when he stood up. She noted that the group around Elizabeth had dispersed, after a few moments, leaving her alone.</p>
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  <p>Zari frowns. She knew that James had not quite gotten over the sting of losing everything. Losing his ex-fiancée was one thing, but his life slipping through his fingers would put him in a state of constant anger and contempt.</p>
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  <p>She watches, as he leans against the same railing of the ship that Elizabeth was using to prop herself up. He traded a few words, with a smirk on his face that was both charming and frustrated. She wanted to pull him away, knowing that his trade with her was going to be something of an attempt to push a few buttons. To express his bitterness, without causing a scene. </p>
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  <p>Zari wanted him to stop suffering. James wasn’t a man who deserved any of it.</p>
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  <p>He had pushed himself off of the railing and turned towards Elizabeth, presumably to follow up with something else. When she had not responded, only stared, he turned around with another amused smirk on his face.</p>
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  <p>It was then, Zari stopped him.</p>
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  <p>“James,” she called, causing him to pull himself to a sudden stop.</p>
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  <p>His eyes changed, from pain-filled to kind. Zari assumed he hadn’t quite gotten past the kindness she had shown him in Tortuga, or the fact that she had saved his life when they were all fighting on the Black Pearl. </p>
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  <p>“Zari,” he returned, stepping towards her slowly; she could feel that he was unsure.</p>
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  <p>“I never got to say on Tortuga, but... I am glad to see you,” she said to him. “For whatever merit that may hold, now.”</p>
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  <p>“I still owe you for saving my life,” he replied calmly, a more genuine smile pulling at the edge of his lips.</p>
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  <p>“You do not owe me anything,” she replied quickly. She never wanted him indebted to her. She saved him, because he was a man just fulfilling his job. He wasn’t a bad man. He was a good one, set out to fulfill his duty to the Crown. “I... I want to know how you’re feeling.”</p>
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  <p>“How do you mean?” he inquired quickly.</p>
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  <p>“James, I know about Elizabeth. How she went to Will Turner,” she explained. “You loved her, I am sure you still do. I may seem forward, but... I’m worried about who you will become, should you continue to hide your contempt.”</p>
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  <p>Zari understood one thing, after voyaging with James Norrington when he had been Commodore: he needed a purpose. His commission was something that kept him grounded, when Elizabeth had cut the ties of engagement with him. James being a drunkard in Tortuga only furthered that observation.</p>
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  <p>“How long did you know about it?” he asked quietly, his eyes dropping just a bit.</p>
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  <p>“I knew before we had found her on that island with Jack,” Zari admitted, staring at him evenly. “You would have never believed me, if I had told you the truth.”</p>
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  <p>James sighs dejectedly. He knew that she was right, he was so far into his feelings. He would have never accepted the truth, not from a witch--even if she were to mean well.</p>
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  <p>She almost had a compulsion to reach out for his hand to comfort him further, so he would not coax himself into self-deprecation, into anger. However, she refrained. She would never admit it to him, but she did care more about his well-being than he knew.</p>
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  <p>When he remained silent, she continued her words. “James, please... take care of yourself. We may have begun on opposing sides, but I do not hate you.”</p>
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  <p>James seems to freeze. Zari wasn’t sure if it was because of her words, or his inability to process that someone was truly worried for him but he seemed... relieved.</p>
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  <p>“I will,” is his response. his tone gentle and kind towards her despite his quick reply. </p>
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  <p>She wanted to carry on, however something about the aura around him told her not to. Just let him go, return to his duties that he had been given around the Black Pearl.</p>
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  <p>So when he turns around and begins to stride off, she lets him, despite the ever so gentle longing that she felt boil in her stomach.</p>
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